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Monday, September 6, 2010

My New Toy

Ever since I started planning my research trip to Greenville I have been thinking about getting a wand scanner for scanning documents. I had also heard recommendations on using a camera on the “Macro” setting for this purpose.

Helpful Husband said he would buy a wand scanner this weekend as an early anniversary present, but first I decided to see what I could do with my camera. I used a printout of a will typescript as my sample specimen. The ultimate results with a camera were pretty good, but clarity definitely depended on amount of light; the first image was rather fuzzy, and I had to have strong overhead light to produce the results you see below.

So, being a “belt and suspenders” type of gal, I decided to take Husband up on his offer.

To my delight, the first experiment produced the two images you see below. The first is the jpeg image that comes up in Preview, and the second is a photographic image that comes up in iPhoto.

Some of the documents and images I will be scanning/photographing are bound to pose challenges, but I’m hoping that the combination of methods will ensure some readable results.

Carol, Karen, Mary, and Barbara - Due to the interest, I'll post more details tomorrow. But, to answer Barbara's question first - having a steady hand is not quite so much an issue because you actually place the scanner on top of the document and slowly move it across the document (a red light will flash if you are moving it too quickly). It's probably best when the document lies flat on a surface. My husband bought it for $99 at Brookstone. He knows I prefer "basic" to "lots of features (= usually things I don't need), so this costs less than others, which were in the $160 range. But it does color & B&W. It needs (and does not come with) two AA batteries and a microSD card.

Yes, that looks like it would be my new favorite toy as well! One of my cousins has a nice, big, fancy scanner with bells and whistles, but then also has a smaller scanner (Canon, not sure of #) that is powered by USB. It is about 3/4" to 1" thick and he carried it with his laptop when he goes to libraries. So, another option for some. It is well under $100, and seems to do a great job.

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About Me

After spending my formative years paying no heed to all the family stories, I got hooked on genealogy later in life and am now trying to catch up. My husband and I had long ago developed an interest in graveyards and have enjoyed visiting them while on vacation. I have started two Graveyard Rabbit blogs as a way, in addition to my participation in Findagrave, to help make information to other people who are researching their family history.
If you would like to get in touch with me, simply click on the link below entitled "View My Complete Profile"; this will take you to my Profile page, where you can click on the "Email" link under Contact (right below my profile picture, aka my cat R.B. trying to catch a balloon).